The Cutie Mark Ripper: Conquest is Magicby BraveryChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10PrologueChapter 1Rosie flew through the broken-down shed, making sure everything is as it should: Broken and deceptive. She lands right in front of the bookcase and moves some color-coded books around, "White, dark blue, pink, purple, light pink, and white again." There, a secret trap door opens below her. Rosie couldn't help but smile as she slid down into her true home and lair. She always enjoyed the slides in the playground near her old childhood home. "Childhood..." At the bottom of the slide, a security checkpoint appears before her. Exactly like the ones in the airship ports so no rogue magic could sabotage the ship. However, for Rosie's purposes, this checkpoint severed as a way to check if it’s Rosie walking through or some other creature that shouldn't be where they were supposed to be. Thankfully for Rosie, the system dinged to indicate clearance and a voice spoke from it, "ACCESS ACCEPTED! WELCOME HOME, MASTER!" And the wall in front of Rosie opened up, revealing her true home. Rosie walked into the main hall, which leads to the main living room and dining room. In the living room, Rosie could see all the ghosts of the ponies she killed, chilling out, reading books, having conversations, or in Luster Dawn's case, comforting the recently demised. Rosie rolled her eyes at the irony and started to walk to her bedroom, however, Luster Dawn stops her by teleporting in front of Rosie, "Yes?" Rosie questioned. "What are you planning to do with us? We are here for a reason." "Please, you are nothing but a nuisance. I have no use for souls like you. You simply sever as a reminder of my sins." "So..." The newly killed earth pony sniffles, "I can't go to the great beyond...?" Rosie thought for a moment and replied, "You all have unfinished business, and that business is me. For as long as I live, you will forever be bound on this plane." Rosie turned back to Luster, "May I leave now?" Luster wordlessly lets Rosie through as she goes into her bedroom just across the hall. Luster sat down on the couch, "So... What do you think she's going to do now?" "Her plan must be to conquer all of Equestria!" Ruby Moonlight shouted. "Yeah I got that Ruby, but what are the details? 'Conquer all of Equestria' is a pretty broad idea. How will she do it?" "I think she has a 'dream board' in her room." Sandy Dream says, "I wouldn't go in there though." "Why not?" "Because she uh... Probably is going to have some 'fun' before bed." "Oh... Yeah, I don't need to see that..." Luster facepalms, but notices one 9 ponies in front of her, "Wait... Where's Ruby?" The ghosts point towards the hall. Luster turns and sees Ruby floating to their killer's room, "Ruby where are you going?" "What? Do you think I'm going to miss out on the show?" Ruby questions. Luster just stares blankly at Ruby, "Yeah I'm not going to question or stop you..." Luster faceplants into the couch. This existence hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows for her at all. Chapter 2The sun rises on a new day for Rosie Plague, as she gets out of bed after a long night of reading her secret collection of books and using her fun toys. Rosie takes her sheets off of her bed and puts them in the laundry shoot. It's been a week since she's cleaned them, they were in need of a wash anyway. Still very tried, Rosie looks up to see Ruby, sleeping. Rosie shrugged, it wasn't the first time Rub watched her during the fun hour, and Rosie didn't mind, though sometimes she wishes she can touch a ghost, then none of the ghosts would be safe from her tendencies. Rosie's fantasies aside, she walked over to the bathroom to wash up and get ready for the day and to wash her sins of the previous night, lust-driven or otherwise. The steam of the hot shower relaxed the tenseness of the wing muscles on the snow-white pony, as the red water rushes off of the pony and into the drain, the blood from last night disappearing from view. Rosie stood there letting the waterfall rain on her, thinking. She could feel the sins of her actions crawl within her heart of hearts, the darkness crawling and clawing within her soul. Was this guilt? Was it regret taking those ponies' lives? No, it couldn't be, as all the greatest rulers have done what she did to gain power: Kill whoever stands in the way of you and the throne. And she knew exactly who stood in between her and the Throne of Equestria. But she couldn't dwell on that now, as Rosie turned off the shower, dried off, and put on her robe, her mind started to race once more, this time on how to free her recruitments. Rosie knew she needs an army to start conquering Equestria, and what better way to have an army than to create one from the ground up, and she knew exactly what creature to use for that. But there was a problem with the other two. Rosie already had magic stealing, and she didn't need a child. Rosie sat in the living room, her husky sleeping in his bed. She looked to the framed items on the mantel: The stolen cutie marks, with Luster's at the top. The time and dates of each of their deaths on a golden plate on the bottom frame. Rosie signed and took a history book from the nearby shelf: Houyhnhnm's Guide to Magical Arcana, Rosie's go-to book when it comes to magical wears. She flips through the book and looks for the correct page. "Aye!" Somepony shouts, frightening Rosie into closing the book. She looks over and sees one of the newly killed Pegasi, Crystal Aurora, "What's up doc?" "You adjusted to being a ghost rather quickly." Rosie deadpans, going back into her book. "Well I guess so but you might as well tell me whatcha don'." "'Whatcha don'.' is very important work, that someone like you won't understand, as it requires the highest understandings of magic." "Weeeeeeeeell... I'm not a great wizard or anything but looks like you are trying to find a spell that can break a stone spell." "Congratulations, you can read." "And correct me if I'm wrong, but there are only three major villains still trapped in stone somewhere. And, and this is a shot in the dark, but you plan to free those villains from their prison and use them as your lackeys." Rosie simply looked back at Crystal, saying unamusingly, "How could you tell?" "Wild guess." "Well since you guessed correctly, I might as well say, yes, I am planning to free Chrysalis, but I don't think I have a plan for Cozy Glow or Tirek. I'll probably keep them as stone or kill them. We'll see what happens.” “And by ‘we’ you mean you.” “For one of my newest victims, you learn fast.” “I’ll take that.” Crystal floated away from Rosie’s view. “What a weird ghost of mine.” Rosie comments, going back to her book, reading and taking notes of the to do to reverse the spell. Chapter 3Back behind the relatively safe walls of Chanterlot, Gallus walks about the palace walls, leading two stallion guards with him. The three of them could feel the coldness of the palace walls and floor, as the princess has been spending almost all of her time trying to solve the Cutie Mark Ripper case. Gallus could feel the despair and sorrow throughout the walls, but he didn't want to get it in his head that all hope was lost. But now in present, Gallus and his mini-company meet a closed door, "Halt." He raised a fist in the air as the veteran stallion stopped while the newly trained bumps into the veteran. "Hey, watch it, newbie." The green mane stallion scolded. "Oh sorry, sir..." The black mane stallion whimpered. "Relax, you aren't in trouble, Midnight." Gallus reassured, "Today, the niece of Queen Novo and her friends will be here for the Friendship Summit to representing their species, and Princess Twilight asked for each of them to have a personal bodyguard in case of an attack or something along those lines." "Uh, sir, not to question the princess' choice, but won't it maker more sense for the girls to have mares as a bodyguard, so they can be protected at all times and feel less uncomfortable?" "Look, the guard is spread pretty thin across Chanterlot, I couldn't spare anyone else other than us three." "Makes sense..." Midnight says. "Anyways, Justice, you will be guarding Smolder. Midnight, you're guarding Ocellus, and I'll be guarding Silverstream." Midnight and Justice salute and with a nod, Gallus opens the door, revealing a dragon, a changeling, and a hippogriff. "Hey look, guys! Gallus is here!" The hippogriff shouts charging and glomping Gallus, hugging him tightly. "Oof! Hey Silverstream. Good to see you too." Gallus grunts, having a little trouble breathing. Justice walks over to the dragon, "Smolder, I presume?" "Yep that' s me. I don't get why we need bodyguards." "Because the Princess said a very dangerous being is on the loose." Ocellus says, "Best be safe than sorry." "Oh... Yeah..." Silverstream's bubbly personality deflates rather quickly, "Hey Gallus? Can we talk in private?" "Uh, yeah sure. Justice, Midnight, you know what to do." "Yes sir!" The two stallions saluted, walking away with their VIC or very important creature. "So... Miss Ocellus." Midnight began, as he and Ocellus walk to her private dorm. "Yes?" "Uh... This is going to sound like a weird question, but are there other changelings other than the changeling kingdom ruled by Thorax?" "Hm... Good question. As a matter of fact, yes. But they aren't on this landmass. We used to be connected to them, but I guess they wanted to burn those bridges before the idea of giving love instead of taking it could reach their changelings." "Hm... I see." Midnight appears more relaxed, "What about Chrysalis?" Ocellus stops in her tracks, raising an eyebrow at the stallion, "What about her?" "Um...." Midnight shrinks back, "I was just curious... I mean... The stone spell didn't last too long for Discord, how do we know that Chrysalis won't return with a changeling army?" "She didn't return with a changeling army the third time she returned. I am sure she won't return with an army of any kind, seeing as she's turned to stone." Ocellus emphasized. "I... I know..." Midnight glances around, "Oh look!" Midnight points to a door, "There's your room! heh..." Ocellus walks to her room, keeping an eye on Midnight. Once Ocellus closes the door behind her, Midnight sighs a sigh of relief. Was it so bad he could ask questions? He sits at his post, for he does not know. "Are you sure you want to speak with her Silverstream?" Gallus asks, walking with the worried hippogriff. "I... I don't want to, I need to talk to her. It's been 6 months and I've been trying to reach out to her, to comfort her. I know what's it's like to be fearful of someone that can and will hurt you." She turns to Gallus, "And you out of anyone should know what's it like to feel alone." "I guess I never thought of it that way..." The duo reaches the stained glass window hall, looking at various depictions on the walls. One that caught Gallus' eye was one with 6 creatures: A pony, a griffin, a changeling, a yak, and a hippogriff, all appeared to be fighting a large armored beast. Gallus smiled, looking up at the window, "Remember that day? We fought the tarrasque that was tearing up the countryside?" Silverstream stopped and looked up at the stained glass window, smiling bittersweetly, "Yeah... But I don't really want to think about it. Kinda don't want to remember how awkward it was after the battle." "Oh... Right..." Gallus looked away from Silverstream, remember that day. That was the day Gallus wanted to confess his feeling to Silverstream, but the Princess summoned them, to take care of the tarrasque that had escaped Tartarus. After the battle, Gallus finally confessed, even gave Silverstream a kiss, but Silverstream didn't feel the same way, and they remained friends. That day reminded Gallus of victory and a bittersweet confession. "Come on, Gallus. Let’s not keep the princess waiting.” Silverstream placed a claw on Gallus’ shoulder, plated with golden armor. Gallus smiled at his friend, “Yeah, let’s go.” The duo walks through the door leading to the throne room. There, sitting regally on her throne was the Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Twilight looks at the Griffin and Hippogriff, smiling at her former students. "Your majesty." The two say, bowing down. Twilight laughs and flies down from her golden throne, "No need to be so formal. It's nice to see you again, Silverstream." "It's good to finally meet with you again. I hope you're doing well." Silverstream says wearily. "I'm... Doing better... I suppose...It's been a rough 6 months but I'm working hard to solve the case." "Trust me, she has been." Gallus comments. "So... Why weren't you responding to my letters? I was so worried about you." Silverstream walks with Twilight, Gallus following close behind. "I was meaning to send you a letter, but I could never find the time to mail it, not only that, but new cases popped up, I had to focus all my attention on it." Twilight explained. "Uh-huh. I see... Well, glad to see you're doing well, Princess." "And I'm glad to see one of my former students making her way to the Friendship Summit." Suddenly, a very loud sneeze is heard from the stained glass hall, startling the three creatures. A familiar green maned stallion, now coughing up ask and scorched in the face, stumbles into the throne room, "Why do the dragon sneeze trees always bloom around this time?" And falls to the floor, as Smolder walks in, rubbing the snot off her nose. "You're going to need a fire management team out there..." She says, trying to keep another sneeze in. Twilight could help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation, "Yes yes, I'll get some help." She laughs some more, "My I haven't laughed like this in a while." Gallus looks over to Silverstream who is giving him a hopeful grin. Gallus smiles as well. Silverstream's mission is turning out as a success so far. Chapter 4Twilight looked at all the ponies, kirins, dragons, yaks, changelings, griffins, and hippogriffs, all here to take part in representing their species and towns. Twilight always loved the Friendship Summit, being able to see her thriving citizens in her queendom. However, in her heart of hearts, Twilight knew the enemy would use this event as an opportunity to strike. With the recent multiple pony missing case still fresh in her mind, Twilight knew that with such a large event and crowd, the killer could easily kill someone, and no one would know until it was too late. That won't due. Twilight had her guard spread far and wide all across Chanterlot, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. Everyone was to enter and leave the city, alive. She would make sure of it. But for now, it was time for the first event: The Princess Q&A Session, an event where anyone can ask the princess a question and she would answer to the best of her ability. Transparency was her best policy, after all. Best to tell the public know about events that are going on. With a lift of her hoof, the crowd falls silent, "Welcome to the Friendship Summit!" The crowd cheers for the regal princess, "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and welcome to Princess Q&A." Twilight watches at everyone in the crowd shuffles pencil and paper around, ready to record her answers, "Let's begin with you, the yellow and green changeling there!" She pointing to said changeling. "Ah yes! Will there be new laws for changeling polymorphing?" The changeling asks. "Yes, in fact, I am working with Thorax to reform the current laws, so changelings can better express how they perceive themselves." Notes were taken on that statement, "Yes, the large light blue dragon in the back." She points to the dragon. "Uh, you made a statement early in the year that you are going to help with the problem of overpopulation in the Dragonlands. How do you plan to help with that?" "Well, I spoke with Dragonlord Ember, and we came to an agreement that some locations in Equestria's borders would be perfect for the dragons, so we are establishing communities of dragons to help with the overpopulation issue." More notes were taken; this was going smoothly for the Princess, "How about-" "Where's Luster Dawn?" A voice speaks out. The princess stiffens, her eyes widen at the thought of that question. Not too far away near the snack bar, Gallus, Ocellus, Smolder, and Silverstream watch from afar, listening carefully to what was being said. "Eh... W-who said that?" Twilight looked amongst the crowd. "It was me." A voice speaks. The crowd moves away from the figure, who wore a large black cloak. "Who are you? Show yourself!" Twilight demanded. The cloaked figures chuckled and ripped the cloak off. They were a kirin mare, with a blue coat, and purple mane, green details, and dark green eyes. She smiled at the Princess, stepping forwards, "We meet at last, your highness." "Jokes Kard..." Twilight mumbles. "Oh, I didn't know you knew of me. Strange, since I'm just a little kirin from nowhere Equestria." Another step forward, the crowd backs away, "But please dear princess. I, no, we must know what happened to your star student. Several of us haven't seen her in ages, and we are all growing worried about her whereabouts." "Gallus..." Smolder shakes the gold plating of the griffin's armor. "Yeah yeah, I see it." Gallus signals for the guards in the surrounding area to follow his direction. "I... I don't..." Twilight stampers back. "You don't know where she is?" Jokes asked. "I didn't say-" Twilight was cut off when Jokes ups on stage, turning to the crowd. "My fellow Equestrians! There is a secret the Princess has been keeping from us! As we all know, there has been a string of disappearances all throughout the land. The only issue I have is the fact, when I spoke with the families of the disappeared ponies, is that these were not disappearances..." The crowd begins to murmur, "... But murders!" The crowd gasps in utter shock, looking to the Princess for answers. "Is it true Princess Twilight?" One stallion asks. "I... Ummm..." Twilight could feel the panic set in. "You've been lying to us?!" A yak yells. Twilight could feel the air closing around her. "What other secrets are you hiding?" A hippogriff questions. More questions start to be thrown Twilight's way, and Jokes let this go on for another minute before speaking. "The killer behind all the murders is known as The Cutie Mark Ripper! And Princess Twilight has sent her star student to find the killer. And just where is Luster now? Not even the princess knows!" "Miss, please get off the stage." A guard asks. "Let her speak!" Some of the crowd shouts. "Twilight Sparkle has sent her student on a deadly mission to find a killer. Alone!" The crowd started to rally, as Princess Twilight was being ushered out by her four former students away from the crowd, as the guards try to calm the crowd, "What does that say for the transparent policy Twilight has implemented? What is this princess hiding?! Will we stand for this?!" The crowd jeers at the idea of having a ruler who holds secrets away from them, the guards quickly become overrun with the angry mob, "We need a strong ruler! One who will not stand for these killings! One who will allow public knowledge to help them rule the land! Who's with me!?" The crowd cheers at that, but the guards heard enough, one trying to tackle Jokes off the stage, but Jokes teleported away from the guards and the crowd, running away into Chanterlot. "Get her!" A guard yells out, as 3 others chase after the crazed kirin. Meanwhile, just outside the window of the Princess' room, as crowd jeers and throws objects at the closed window, trying to get in. Gallus from inside, closes all the curtains in the room, as Smolder lights some candles and while Silverstream and Ocellus comfort the panicked Princess, giving her a weighted blanket to help her, "It's ok Princess, remember your breathing exercises." Silverstream reminded. There's a knock at the door, which caused Twilight to hid in her pile of pillows and blankets. Smolder turns to the door, "Who's there!?" She said threateningly. "It's Spike, Smolder!" "Oh." She opened the door, and there was Spike, very, very concerned about his big sister. "Twilight..." He walks over to the frightened Princess, "Hey... It's me, I came here as fast as I could when I heard the noise of angry populace." Twilight peeks her head out of the blankets, tears coming down her face, "What did I do wrong Spike...? One minute the crowd loved me as the leader they know I can be, but then the next minute-" A rock crashes into the glass window, startling Twilight to retreat back into her fort. "Ah, shoot. Ocellus, can you scare the crowd away?" Gallus asks, putting the rock on the desk. "Bugbear?" She asks. "Yep. Add fire breathing snakes for all I care. Go nuts." Ocellus salutes and heads out the door, "There, the crowd should disperse in three... Two... One..." A bear-like roar is heard outside the window as the crowd screams and scatters. Ocellus returns through the window. Twilight pokes her head out of her blanket burrito, "Thank you... Everyone... But I need some time to myself. A lot has happened." "Yeah, that's fair. We can leave." Smolder says. Silverstream and Ocellus nodded and headed out with Smolder. Gallus was about to leave with Spike before Twilight stopped him. "Oh, Gallus." "Yes, your majesty?" "Can you see that Jokes Kard is arrested? I want to question her." "You got it, Princess." Gallus then leaves with Spike, who closes the door behind them. Twilight was alone once again, processing what just transpired. Chapter 5"Alright, bring her in," Gallus says in the interrogation room, which was just an empty room in the palace with a hanging light, two chairs, and a table. Two guards bring in a chained up Jokes Kard, who just had a magic barrier spell placed on her since apparently, she knew advanced magic. She was sat down in front of Gallus, the recorder got his quill and parchment ready, and the unicorn who was in charge of seeing if Jokes was telling the truth or not got her spell ready. Start time: 3:45 pm. "Alright, Jokes Kard. I am Gallus, head of the royal guard." Gallus stated for the record. "Nice to meet you, Gallus." "Let's not get too chummy now, let's get to the main thing I want to know: How much do you know about the Cutie Mark Ripper?" "Eh, I know as much as anyone else: They are a killer." Gallus looked to the guard with the lie detector spell, "She's telling the truth." She said. "Yes... Alright. Is there anything you know that the public doesn't already know?" "Nope. The Cutie Mark Ripper could be anyone or anything. There is no set pattern other than the fact they were all of the victims were powerful magic users." Gallus looked to the guard, "She's telling the truth." Gallus sighed, "I guess that line of questioning won't get us anywhere." Gallus pulled up his chair to sit in it, "Alright Jokes Kard, tell us where you're from." "Well..." Jokes started to think, "I grew up in a town called Lostpeak." Gallus looked over, and the guard's horn didn't glow red, "Continue." "Yeah, Lostpeak. Both my parents were Kirins, talented magic users, and I was their only kid." "She lied on that last part." The mare lie detector said. "Ok fine! I have 4 brothers but I don't like talking about them." Kard said, seeming very upset. "Alright... Continue..." Gallus said. "With my life story? Gladly." “Wait no, that’s not what I-“ Gallus got cut off. “I was born on a Wednesday evening, my mother and father weren’t expecting me, but they wanted me anyways-“ This was going to be a long interrogation... And Gallus only had one pot of coffee. 6:15 pm. "-So when I heard about the Cutie Mark Ripper-" Gallus perked up when he heard ‘Cutie Mark Ripper', “I went to ask the families about it, and learned that they were magic users and you know what I realized?” “What? What did you realize?” “That Princess Twilight Sparkle hates magical talented ponies.” Gallus slammed his head on the table, “It’s all a conspiracy, man! She wants to get rid of all the magic users to stop ponies from rising up against her! The Cutie Mark Ripper is Twilight Sparkle!” “Alright, we established this mare is crazy. Take her away.” Two guards swoop in and take the crazy mare away, “Hey! Unhoof me! I speak the truth! I speak the truuuuuuuuuuu-“ SLAM! The door behind them close, as Gallus slams his head into the table again. “Another cup of coffee, sir?” The lie detector mare asks. “Bring me the whole darn pot, Susan...” Susan turns on the brewery once again for the griffin captain, “You know sir... All she said was true. She genuinely believes the Princess is the Ripper.” “It's a good thing she didn’t drill that into the heads of the angry crowd...” “Yeah...” Susan brings the pot to Gallus, who happily slurps it down, “Although, she clearly doesn’t seem to know anything about the actual ripper, other than what everyone now knows and conspiracies against the princess.” Gallus slams the coffee pot against the table, surprisingly not shattering it, “I’ll have to talk to Princess Twilight. Jokes Kard is probably going to get exiled to somewhere far from Equestria. I don't know how Rain Shine will take it." "She's the leader of the kirins, correct?" "Yeah..." Gallus, once again, banged his head on the table, "Back to square one..." There was a knock at the door, and Gallus looked up at the door, "Come in." Midnight walked into the room, "Hey boss... Uh... Ocellus sent me here to tell you to meet them in the statue garden." "Oh great... What happened?" "I think you have to see for yourself..." Reluctantly, Gallus and Susan followed Midnight to the lovely garden of statues. Gallus stares in disbelief. There was supposed to be a statue here. There was supposed to be a statue here! There was supposed to be a statue here! There was supposed to be a statue here!, "What the actual fuck?!" He yelled. The girls looked at Gallus with a shocked expression, "Language Gallus!" Silverstream scolded, covering Ocellus' ears. Ocellus looks up at Silverstream with an unamused look. "No! NO! What the fuck?! I am so done with this! First the murderer, now the statue of the three villains is gone?!" Gallus throws his helmet on the ground, "I can't anymore, I am so done with this." Gallus began to toward the Chanterlot hedge maze, "I am going in there, and I will sulk. I'll be back in like... 10 minutes." He turned a corner and the griffin was gone. The girls give each other concerned looks, as the silence was replaced with the rustling of trees and the whispers of the wind, "Well... Fuck..." Smolder said, looking at the dirt where the statue once stood, "No marks, no clues anywhere. And no witness... The perfect heist..." The girls sit in silence, all three wonder what's going to happen now the three greatest villains are now in the hands or hooves of someone possible dangerous. Chapter 6Luster Dawn, Solar Snow, and Sandy Dream watched as their snow-white killer struggle to move the large statue of the three villains of old to her dingy basement, "Stupid, heavy, thing!" Their killer keeps saying over and over. "So... What is her plan again?” Luster asks, “You went to go look at her board, right Sandy?" "Uh yeah... It said that she wants to build an army and she's going to use Chrysalis to do that, but it kinda tapered off into some weird notes. Something involving ropes, and other weapons of the bedroom." Sandy raised and lowered her eyebrows quickly, giving the other two ghost bedroom eyes, which caused them to laugh in hysterics. Rosie heard all this and a bright red blush appeared on the alicorn's face, "H-hey! Stop going through my board!" "Well, it's kinda hard to miss with all the red string and saucy language," Sandy said smugly, which only turned Rosie a deeper shade of red and the other two ghosts to laugh even more, "And besides, you make it any secret you are lonely in bed." "Stop, stop it!" Rosie whined as the ghost follow her to the dungeon. "Hm. Bringing your potential bedroom mates into the dungeon? Kinky." Solar comments. "This place is only for imprisonment, perverts!" Rosie yells, placing the villains in the cage, locking it, and activating the electric shock. "Hey, I never said anything. Why are you calling me a pervert?" Luster Dawn asks, "Also, I'm pretty sure that's a child there." She points to Cozy Glow. Rosie's flustered face turned one of minor annoyance, "I am aware the stone spell persevered Cozy's age. That does stop me from potential keeping her in a stone prison, or just killing her so I don’t have to worry about the spell wearing off." "Wow... Killing foals. That's a new low, even for you." Solar Snow says, crossing her forelimbs. Rosie rolled her eyes and ignored the ghosts continuing comments; she needed to focus. There was much work to be done. There were a few things she didn't want to do, but if push comes to shove, she must do it. After testing that the cage is thoroughly electrified, Rosie dawned her fateful mask. It was time to release the villains. During her time in Chanterlot, she managed to snag the Talisman of Mirage. It being a talisman, it was embedded with powerful magic, and combined with her magic, she hopes that the spell she came up with will allow her to break the spell, releasing the villains from their prison. Rosie took a deep breath in, concentrating on her spell,"No fear..." She says in her head, magic flowing through her horn, "The void of thought and feeling is before you. Recuse the stolen souls." Rosie sees three glowing orbs: A red one, a pink one, and a green one. Her own soul reaches out to help them but just seems so out of reach, "No residence. Hold on to my hoof, and let's leave the darkness." Suddenly, Rosie's eyes glow white as she blasts a powerful beam of magic at the statue. Rosie is knocked back after the blast, but as soon as she recovered, she saw her spell had worked, the statue was cracking and there was light glimmering out of said cracks! Talisman gave her the magic she needed. Rosie quickly grabbed her black cloak and put it on, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to send the villains to sleep. The stone prison was finally broken, as Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow discovered when they all fall to the floor, the stone base holding them up broken and shattered around them. Groaning and moaning as they move their aching joints for the first time in years, Chrysalis was the first to notice something was wrong, "Wait. No no no!" She quickly stands up and runs for the bars, but was repelled back by the powerful Electric shock, "Agh! Oh for the love of..." Chrysalis grunted for a minute, going from angry to terrified, trying to do, something. "And just what are you trying to do?" Tirek asks, looking over how weak he was. "Magic! I'm trying to blast those bars open! But, I can’t seem to-“ She tries again but to no avail. Tirek gives it a go, using all his strength to blast those bars, but he couldn’t muster up a tiny ball of magic, exhausting himself trying, “Anti... Antimagic shielding and electric bars? Whoever has put us here know how much of a threat we propose.” “And unless Chrysalis can change her form.” The two look over and see the young pegasus poking at the stone floor, “There’s no way to dig through this solid rock.” “Hm. Can you change form?” Tirek asks. Chrysalis thought for a moment and started to grunt again, but stopped almost immediately, falling to her knees, “No I cannot. I’m afraid I am far too weak to change my form.” Cozy Glow followed suit, sitting on her knees, “Well, what can we do?” “Nothing at the moment. We just...” Chrysalis was stopped by a yawn, “We just got to wait for our captors to come and... And...” Chrysalis laid her head down as she suddenly became very sleepy. She looks over and saw Cozy Glow already passed out. Chrysalis for her part closed her eyes too, falling asleep. Tirek, being a big dude, saw his two comrades fall asleep and noticed the strange sound: water gushing? No, it sounded like pressurized gas, like steam escaping a pipe. He could feel himself getting dizzy but he wasn’t going to let whatever this invisible sleepy mist get to him, shaking his head and working himself up. Rosie continued to watch from the shadows, her mask repelling the sleeping gas. She wanted to use more gas but that will run the risk of giving Chrysalis and Cozy Glow a dangerous dose. Luckily, she had a plan B. Rosie had to act fast though. Rosie quickly used magic to open a nearby chest, taking out a modified paint gun and three darts of some kind. Unfortunately for Rosie, Tirek spots the glow of the magic, and gets into a defensive stance, "Who's there? Show yourself, coward!" Rosie did not obligate, simply loading her paint gun with the darts. "Bonne Nuit, Centaur." Rosies says, teleporting on the other side of the room, firing two darts into Tirek's side. Tirek yells in agony and rips the two darts out of his side, but unfortunately for him, Rosie fires the last one into it. Tirek rips that one out too, but the damage is done, with the combination of the sleeping gas and the darts, Tirek falls to his side, quickly falling asleep without any more fighting. Rosie's plan was coming together as she laughs devilishly. Chapter 7Cozy Glow was the first to awaken from her unprompted nap. She looks to her left and she spotted her comrades, asleep and chained up, with Terik gagged with two different color cloths. A little scared, she looked around the room. It appeared to be an office, bookshelves hanging on the dark brown walls, filled with books and other nicknacks. In front of her was a desk filled with papers, books, and a desk plate that read, "The Boss". Behind this desk was a massive painting, one framed in gold and depicted many events of history: Grogar's reign and fall, the Earth ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi's union under the banner of Equestria, the rise of the royal sisters, the rise and disappearance of the Pillars of Equestria, the royal sister defeat of Discord, the defeat of Sombra, the banishment of Nightmare Moon, the defeat of Nightmare Moon and the return of Luna, the second defeat of Discord, the defeat of Chrysalis, the second defeat of Sombra, the reformation of Discord, Twilight's ascension to Alicorndom, the defeat of Terik, the birth of Flurry Heart, Chrysalis second defeat, the return of the Pillars and defeat of the Pony of Shadows, the defeat of the Storm King, the union of all six races of Equestria and Beyond, the defeat of Cozy Glow, the final battle against Chrysalis, Terik, and Cozy Glow, and Twilight's ascension to ruler of all Equestria. Cozy had to admit, it was beautiful, but there was one last part towards the bottom of the painting that worried her: The colorful background turned into a black ink texture, dripping down into a blood-red and a symbol sits at the bottom: A crown with two bleeding swords behind it. Cozy felt a little uneasy looking at it. "What? What is this? Why are we chained?!" Cozy Glow looks over and sees Chrysalis and Terik were away, equally as confused, with Terik trying to ungag himself but failing to due to his chains being too short. "I... I don't know." Cozy Glow looks at her chains; should be enough to fly a short distance and look around better. Cozy Glow jumps up to fly but couldn't feel her wings open, falling back to earth, "Oof... What?" She looks over to her back and sees her wings were clamped to her body. She looks over and sees Chrysalis has discovered a similar fate, "This could be bad..." "You think?! We are in chains and I cannot change again!" Chrysalis huff, ever more frustrated, "This is probably a meeting with whoever captured us." Terik grunts and nods in agreement, "See, Terik sees where this is going." "It's a good thing I didn't end up killing him then." A voice says. The three villains look over and see a snow-white unicorn wearing a black drape. She walks past the villains and sits in the boss chair, sitting in a very intimating pose, “that would have been a very bad thing, won’t it?” Before either of the ladies could reply, Terik starts grunting angrily, pointing at his gag, the chain, generally asking ‘why?!’, “Well... I couldn’t the magic draining centaur steal my magic, now could I?” Teirk groans in annoyance. “Um... Miss.” Cozy Glow raises her hoof as high as the chains allowed her, “Chryisalles can drain love. Why isn’t she gaged?” “Hey!” Chrysalis looked at Cozy with utter betrayal. “I’m just asking, I'm not wishing it on you.” “Well...” the unicorn started, “I made it a point to make sure I am drained of the emotional kind of love, the one Changelings can feed off of. I only fuel myself with lust-fueled love.” She smugly smiled. “Hm...” Terik grunted. Cozy merely gagged at the thoughts that were running through her head. “Either or less, I took into account all of you and your abilities. Terik and his magic stealing, Chrysalis, and her changeling abilities and love stealing, and Cozy Glow." The unicorn pauses, looking at Cozy, "You uh... You're a pegasus. You have that going for you." "Rude..."Cozy remarks. "Enough talk!" Chrysalis charges towards the unicorn, only stopping when the chains don't allow it, "Who are you? Why did you free us only to imprison us in a cage and then chains?" The unicorn raises a hoof to calm the situation, "Please. All will be explained, but for now, you may call me Rosie Plague." "Rosie Plague? I think I heard that name before." Cozy thinks aloud, "Yeah... Weren't you that unicorn that could steal magic?" That caught the ears of Terik, who went from disinterested and annoyed to very interested in a split second. Rosie giggled like a little school filly, "Oh those were the good old days. That bully didn't know what hit her when I stole her magic and gained my mark, while she lost her's. It was devilishly delicious. Then again, the doctors and professors never could figure out how I could steal magic. It was always a mystery. But why would I question such a blessing, when it's a key factor to my conquest?" "Conquest?" Chrysalis questions. "Yes. You see, I have a vision. A kingdom of my very own, one where I am recognized as a Goddess Queen, and I know that you want revenge on the princess and her friends for imprisoning you, so I'm proposing a deal: You help me and my allies establish a base of operations to rival Twilight, and I shall reward you for your endeavors something of great value: Power within my kingdom." The three villains look at each other; this offer was too good to be true, and yet, too good to pass up, "Why?" Chrysalis speaks for the group, "Why do you need us?" Rosie looked at Chrysalis and merely saw her for what she needed. She stands in her chair and goes muzzle to muzzle with Chrysalis, "Because I know you want to raise a brand new army. And an army is just what I need out of you."Rosie's voice was cold and collected, precise, and exact. She sinks back to her seat, "I'll give you the night to think about it. Accept, and expect a great reward. Refuse, and you may never see the light of day ever again." With a spark of magic, the three villains were teleported back to the dungeon, without their bindings but imprisoned once again. Terik, for his part, rubbed his jaw, as the gag was finally off of him, "Finally. That gag was very uncomfortable." "That pony herself made me uncomfortable..." Cozy Glow shutters. the duo look over to Chrysalis, who was sitting in the corner, silent, "Oh hey, what's wrong with you?" "I... Don't want to speak about it," Chrysalis says with her normal attitude. The other villains shrug and make themselves comfortable in the dungeon. That evening, they slept soundly, with Cozy using Terik as a heated mat, however, Chrysalis didn't sleep that evening, thinking about Rosie. How does Rosie think she could provide an army? She couldn't provide an army, it's been forever since she had any... That was a very sleepless night. Author's Note Hey guys! I’m going to take a little break from writing. Nothing wrong, I’m just tired. Need to mentally prepare myself for what is next! Chapter 8Author's Note Alright, I'm ready now! Let's hecking do this!!! Chapter 8 The three villains find themselves in a bit of a competition, and all three were neck and neck, all resulting in the snow-white pony judge to make the final call: Who has the best-looking pancake stack? It didn’t go towards the larger goal of conquering all of Equestria, but everyone was hankering for some breakfast so a friendly bonding contest was just what the villains needed to reaffirm their pact. Rosie even let Tirek go ungaged, just to show how trusting she can be if he’s on his best behavior. First was Chrysalis’ stack. The pancakes looked either undercooked or overcooked, and the whipped cream and strawberries were in the form of some mare’s face Rosie didn’t recognize, “It’s Starlight Glimmer if you couldn’t tell.” Chrysalis explained, “She was the one who destroyed my queendom and turned my subjects against me!” Rosie simply nodded and moved on to the next stack. Cozy’s stack looked well-cooked all the way through, and the pancakes were decorated with whipped cream and edible cookie dough. Except when Rosie tasted it, the cream was heavy. In fact, it wasn’t whipped cream at all! It was buttercream. When Rosie made that discovery, Cozy simply shrugged, “I know you can’t stand whipped cream, judging by you only having one can of it and a bunch of pre-made buttercream bags you had in the fridge.” Rosie smiled and nodded, turning to the last stack. Tirek's stack was something to behold: The stack was craved up to look like Terik’s face with the whipped cream acting as his horns and the chocolate chips as his eyes. Despite the fact he was a barbarian at heart, he had quite the artistic talent, Rosie could tell. She smiled and nodded, “There is no contest, Terik wins.” “Ha ha! Yes!” Tirek cheers. “Oh golly, congrats Tirek! I guess...” Cozy says, saying that last bit in a not so subtle sarcasm. “Noooooo!” Chrysalis yells in a dramatic fashion, falling to the floor as someone would on a fainting couch. The villains look at each other funny before Chrysalis pulled herself together and sat in her chair again. “Well, since Tirek won, I guess you deserve a prize for not only winning but for not even attempting to steal magic.” Rosie walks over to one of her many drawers in her kitchen. “Well since we are now allies, for the time being, I see no reason to burn bridges so early,” Tirek explains, with Cozy and Chrysalis nodding along, agreeing. “Well, as allies, it’s only appropriate that everyone is at their full strength to aid our common goal.” Using her magic, Rosie takes out three glowing crystals and places them on the table. Her horn glows brighter and brighter, the magic becoming more opaque as the crystal shards glow radiate into a ball of glowing energy, as the energy from the crystals drain. Once it is done and Rosie has drained the crystals from all their energy, which was magic, she floats the orb to Tirek, who gobbles it down, restoring himself to his 2nd form. Once rejuvenated, Tirek flexes and kisses his muscles, “Yes yes, I am aware you miss your biceps brachii.” Tirek stops mid-kiss and looks at Rosie confused, “I... Know that first part.” Rosie raised a hoof to silence the centaur, “I like to freshen myself on the anatomy of all creatures. As a wise being once said, ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.’. Now I am not saying I see you as enemies, however, is the time comes that we are no longer united, I wish to be ready to crush you in battle.” Chrysalis munches on her pancakes, “Big words coming from a pony.” She swallows her food, “considering you have done nothing much in the form of powerful magic outside what you and Cozy claim.” “Oh, my dear Queen Chrysalis. That’s because I have yet to show my true power in battle.” Rosie gets up and walks away to the other side of the kitchen, using magic to take out some ink, a quail, and some parchment, “But that’s not to say that battle is the final outcome; I wish to avoid it if I can. But I am indeed ready for it. Now... I must summon the only being in all of Equestria that can really fuck me.” Cozy spits out the orange juice she was drinking and turns to Rosie, wide eye, “What did you say!?” She says terrified. “That can really protect me! Protect us.” Rosie started to write on the paper, “Since we are all immensely powerful, expect for Cozy-“ “Hey.” “-Discord can easily track us down if we are not careful, and we don’t want that now do we?” She rolls up the scroll and sets it aflame, sending it to whoever, “So I am summoning an ally of mine, while also requesting he brings along another ally, one that will help us build the army we need to start conquering towns.” The three villains looked at each other, eyebrows raised, with Chrysalis looking very unconformable, “And just... What does that entail?” She asks Rosie. Rosie simply giggles, “You know what it means. I know something about you.” Rosie giggles some more and walks out of the kitchen, taking some apples with her. Tirek sighs and sits on the ground, as no chairs were strong enough to support him, “So. What’s our plan then?” “Uh... Our plan?” Cozy questions. “Yes! Our plan! We’re going to backstab her as we did with Gorgar/Discord, yes?” “Well actually.” Cozy flies up next to Tirek, “I think Miss Plague has a pretty solid plan. There aren’t any flaws with it that are obvious. Sticking with her is the best course of action.” “Did she bribe you to say that?” Tirek says accusingly. “Oh golly, of course not Terik. And even if she did, would I be telling you something I didn’t believe in?” “Eh, I don’t know to trust you when you have that face. Uhehhh...” Tirek scratches his chin, “I don’t know, I fear the Princess and her friends are still too powerful.” He turns to Chrysalis, “What do you-“ He stopped mid-sentence when they see Chrysalis stabbing at her food, looking worried and stressed. Cozy flies over to Chrysalis, “I’m not asking because we’re friends or anything, but are you ok? You’ve been pretty mopey lately.” “Yeah. Aside from the imprisonment and the chains and that stupid gag, Rosie has been a decent hostess. Why are you looking a gifted horse in the mouth?” Tirek nudges Cozy, “Haha, get it? Because she’s a horse?” Cozy looks at him unamused and Tirek's smile drops, “Yeah ok...” Chrysalis sighs and straightens up in her seat, “I don’t want to speak about it!” “Come on Chrysalis!” Cozy pestered, “Spill the beans!” “I will not!” “Come on, we are all allies here.” Tirek pestered as well. “I will not indulge in the fact that I cannot hatch out a new army of changelings!” Chrysalis, upon realizing what she just said, covered her mouth. “‘Hatch out a new army of changelings’? What does that mean?” Cozy questions. “For as smart as you are Cozy, you aren’t that bright in other aspects.” Tirek deadpans before turning to Chrysalis, “You want me to tell her?” “Yes...” Chrysalis banged her head against the table. Tirek rolled his eyes and turned back to Cozy Glow, “Cozy Glow, you know the life cycle of a queen bee, yes?” “Yeah, I think so.” Cozy shrugged. “Well, I’ll quickly explain it to you. When a bee larva eats royal jelly, it becomes a queen bee. Once she has matured, she flies into the air with several other queens and drones, male bees whose only purpose is to provide the other component to make more bees.” Tirek notes the sudden face of realization on Cozy Glow, “Once that’s all said and done, she flies to a suitable place to build her hive and...” Tirek pauses to watch Chrysalis banging her head against the table, “... Lay her eggs to hatch out her colony. She keeps laying eggs for most of her life.” “Oooooh. And Chrysalis can’t hatch a new army why?” Cozy asks. “You want to know why?” Chrysalis lifts her head from the table, and Cozy and Tirek could see she was not happy. Chrysalis looked like she was seeing red, and it was not Tirek, “You want to know why I can’t hatch out a new army?! Because in the month leading up to my invasion of Chanterlot, I banged Shining Armor so many times, I wasted all of my ‘reserves’! That stallion knows how to make a mare squeal. I- I mean squirt.” Cozy Glow hovers for a moment, just processing what she just heard. She sits back down and places her hooves on her temples, “Welp, I heard everything I needed to not sleep at night.” Tirek rolled his eyes, “Least you never accidentally walked in on your parents, er... ‘Getting everything ready to giving you a brother’.” “That actually happened?!” “One of the many reasons why I dislike my brother. Hm... I wonder where he is now, now that I think about it?” Tirek pondered for a second before turning his attention back to Chrysalis, “So what do you mean by ‘reserves’ anyways? Are you completely out of-?” Chrysalis cuts him off, “No no, I am plenty fertile, trust me I checked.” More gagging from Cozy as Chrysalis continues, “I just don’t have any more fertilized eggs left in me. And I don’t dare go back to the hive to changeling-nap one of those... specimens...” Her voice had a sense of disdain. “Yeah, I know what you mean. There was this one changeling named Ocellus, and she, along with several other students, stopped me from taking all the magic from Equestria!” “Mhm! More reason not to risk it.” “Hm. So all you need is a drone?” Tirek questioned. Chrysalis nods, “Once I... Finish with him.” The two could hear Cozy going to town on the trash can, “I’ll be ready to build a new army within the year! 3,000 eggs every day with the changelings maturing within a month!” “Golly, that’s fast.” Cozy comments. Tirek counts on his fingers for a second, “If you lay eggs every day for the next month, by the very next month, we’ll have an army of 93,000 changelings!” “However, that's counting if I have 3,000 eggs every day, which is unrealistic for me.” Chrysalis said, “But it is a maximum, which is still a sizable number. Soon, if what I think is true, I will raise my army to be greater than the Equestrian army could ever muster!” “And we can finally destroy Twilight and her friends,” Tirek added. “And take over all of Equestria!” Cozy proclaimed. The villains laugh evilly as Chrysalis jumps on the table, “We all thought too selfishly the last time we teamed up. We thought powering ourselves up with Gorgar’s bell was enough to destroy anypony in our path, and it nearly was, but our bickering caused us to fail. Now, with the support of our patron, we will be able to shape the land however we please!” “Yeah!” The other villains cheered. They all had a laugh in triumph, agreeing that their plan was flawless! Unknown to them, a ghostly pink coat unicorn watched them from the corner of the room. She’s been there all morning, taking notes about their activity. Things were about to get interesting. Chapter 9Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 10Flurry Heart paced about her room in the Crystal Empire Palace. Things haven't been well in Chanterlot, she heard. The common folk of the great city was in arms in rebellion, preaching the words of a kirin that was currently rotting in the dungeons under the castle. Her auntie Twilight hasn't been taking it too well, and either has she. When Flurry learned of Luster's death 6 months ago, her world shattered, and the empire fell into a period of great grief and sadness, for Princess Flurry Heart was the Princess of Emotions, and with her being connected to the Cyrstal Heart when her world shattered, the Heart pulsed a wave of sadness one resident of the empire describes as, 'A wave of cold seawater and we are all drowning.'. Flurry has been slowly accepting reality, much like her aunt, but Flurry knew there will always be a pit in her heart that Luster once filled. Now with this unrest in Chanterlot, Flurry had no idea how to feel or what to do. Everything was just, so confusing to her. A knock was at her door, "EH!" Flurry tripped and fell on her face, "ow... Come in..." She picked herself up and turned around. It was her dad, Shining Armor, "Oh dad! You're back!" Flurry runs up and hugs her father, "How's the situation in Chanterlot?" Shining sighed and walked around the room, "Not good. A lot of factions are angry in some shape or form. Twilly isn't doing too well either. She's holding herself together for now but I just know she's going to break, I just know it. I only came back to check on you and your mother. How is she doing anyway?" Furry shook her head, "Not good. With the disappearance of the statue of the villains, mom is freaking out. She's saying things like, 'what if she comes back!? What if she hurts some pony!?'. Like, mom, Chrysalis was defeated like, 3 times now!" "I know that's what it seems Flurry. But you got to remember, your mom was through a lot before Chrysalis was turned to stone. Getting replaced before the wedding, getting captured again." "Yeah, I vaguely remember slime when I was a baby." "Exactly. Chrysalis is bad news. That's not to say Tirek or Cozy Glow aren't threats either." "How is a child dangerous?" Shining stared at Flurry, raising an eyebrow, "... Point taken." "Look, we can't just sit around and do nothing. I've done what I could in Chanterlot but I don't think it's enough." Shining looked out the window to the outside world, "Our only bet is to find the Cutie Mark Ripper, and show the creatures of our home that the Princess of Friendship is the ruler they all need." "Dad, do you understand how big of a task that is? No connections other than the sigil, no connections on locations, no suspects, and the closest suspect we go knows nothing!" Flurry bangs her face into the wall, shaking the room a little, "And with the statue gone... Who knows what's going to happen..." Shining sighs and walks up to Flurry, patting her on the back, "I know this is a lot for you, and I'm sorry I accidentally roped you into it, but please, promise me you'll be ok?" Flurry looks up at her dad, hope still in his eyes even after all that has happened. She smiled and hugged him, "Ok dad. Thank you for being ok yourself." The two embraced for a little while longer before breaking away, Shining wiping away 'liquid pride' from his eyes, as he calls it. He walks towards the door before turning his head back to his daughter, "I'll see you around, my little blizzard." And leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Flurry giggles a little at what her father said. It was a running joke with her family, the fact that she almost doomed the empire by destroying the crystal heart. She doesn't remember it happening, due to it happening mere days after she was born, but she has heard stories. Many, many stories. She still couldn't believe auntie Rarity tried to catch her with a butterfly net. Neither or less, it still got a chuckle out of her. After much more pacing and getting her thoughts together, Flurry finally decided that it was that time of the week for her. To help her cope with the loss of a friend, Flurry had been writing letters to Luster, at least letters addressing her and bringing them to her grave. It was a little something Twilight suggested since writing to Celestia helped her when she was still grieving, maybe writing letters to the dead will make Flurry feel better. She didn't use those exact words, but Flurry got the idea. Taking out some ink, some parament, and realizing she ran out of quills, just plucked one of her feathers to use as a quill. With everything set, Flurry begins her writing. Dear Luster Dawn, Hi, it's been a little while. Sorry I didn't write last week. A lot has happened and I couldn't find time to write about it. SO I'll tell you all about it right now. As I told you in my last letter, the Friendship Summit was coming up. I was super excited to go then but right now, I'm glad our train got delayed... There was a crazy mare there named Jokes Kard, who basically started a whole uprising. Twilight isn't doing too well but the crazy kirin is imprisoned now. Under the crystal palace as a matter of fact. I went down there once and honestly... I'm scared of her... She's crazy. I wouldn't be totally crazy to think she was the ripper. I scared for all the prisoners we have down there. Worst yet, the statue of the three villains is gone. I accompanied Discord as he investigated the crime scene. He couldn't find any clues, which was bad, but on a brighter note: I GOT TO HANG OUT WITH DISCORD!!!! I swear, I never met someone like him before! He's such a charmer! He may be sarcastic at times but deep down I know he's an absolute softy! Ah! Here I go rambling about him again. I really should stop with that, his heart is for aunt Fluttershy, and I need to respect that. Anyway, I should be going now. I really hope you are having a great afterlife. I love you and miss you every day. Sincerly, Flurry Heart With the letter closed up in the envelope, Flurry uses magic to create an enchanted wind, sending the letter right to Chanterlot, right to Luster's grave. As much as she wishes she could deliver it herself, with all the uproar in Chanterlot, the site of alicorn royalty may get her hurt, and Flurry had made a promise. So, Flurry watched as the letter flew out of view, away from the empire and toward the castle of Chanterlot. That letter won't reach the grave, nor did any other letters stay on the grave. Flurry often chalked it up to the natural winds, but little does she knew, a changeling would come and rob the grave of the letters, bringing it back to his master, and this time was no different; it just so happened to fly right over the beginnings of construction. Their cover has not been blown yet, and the clock now sits at 11:59. Author's Note Hello. Bravery here. Now, this may come as a surpise that I will not be continuing this story. Why? It’s because I don’t feel passionate about Rosie Plague and her quest to take over Equestria. As fun as it was in my head, this isn’t what I want to be known for. Thank you for reading and I apologize for the sudden choice. Take care and have a wonderful day. PrologueThud, crunch, thwack. Thud, crunch, thwack. Thud, crunch, thwack. And yet another hole was dug by the snow-white pony. "Finally," Rosie thought, "another grave complete. Just got to pour these ashes into it." Rosie, the Cutie Mark Ripper, took the bucket filled with bone ash and poured the white dust into the earthy pit, whispering, "Time of death: 9:28 P.M." then she took her shovel and covered the ash with dirt, letting the worms take care of the rest. After refilling the hole, Rosie sighed and looked at the other filled holes she did that evening: the older 7 and the newest 3. 11 graves in total. "11..." Rosie thought, "11 ponies dead to my hoof." It’s been 6 months after the Luster Dawn incident, and Rosie had been hard at work. She never did multiple preys at once and she was scared to, but oh how worth it was! Listening to the screams of terror and lost hope was strangely endearing, watching as the earth pony and pegasus saw their comrade die in front of them, the sheer terror of them was enough to make Rosie laugh like one of those super villains. But that was several hours ago, the cuts of meat within her hidden freezer, and the screams were but a distant memory now, the ghost of the ponies watching her as she worked. She felt alone, yet not alone. But she felt powerful. Rosie could feel the magic course through her veins, as the wings on her back had grown larger than the standard pegasus and her height grows ever so slightly from any Chanterlot pony she has seen. She was a true alicorn now through bloodshed, and she finally felt phase two could finally begin. No more planning, action must be taken. And she knew exactly who to recruit. Author's Note Here we go again!
Chapter 1Rosie flew through the broken-down shed, making sure everything is as it should: Broken and deceptive. She lands right in front of the bookcase and moves some color-coded books around, "White, dark blue, pink, purple, light pink, and white again." There, a secret trap door opens below her. Rosie couldn't help but smile as she slid down into her true home and lair. She always enjoyed the slides in the playground near her old childhood home. "Childhood..." At the bottom of the slide, a security checkpoint appears before her. Exactly like the ones in the airship ports so no rogue magic could sabotage the ship. However, for Rosie's purposes, this checkpoint severed as a way to check if it’s Rosie walking through or some other creature that shouldn't be where they were supposed to be. Thankfully for Rosie, the system dinged to indicate clearance and a voice spoke from it, "ACCESS ACCEPTED! WELCOME HOME, MASTER!" And the wall in front of Rosie opened up, revealing her true home. Rosie walked into the main hall, which leads to the main living room and dining room. In the living room, Rosie could see all the ghosts of the ponies she killed, chilling out, reading books, having conversations, or in Luster Dawn's case, comforting the recently demised. Rosie rolled her eyes at the irony and started to walk to her bedroom, however, Luster Dawn stops her by teleporting in front of Rosie, "Yes?" Rosie questioned. "What are you planning to do with us? We are here for a reason." "Please, you are nothing but a nuisance. I have no use for souls like you. You simply sever as a reminder of my sins." "So..." The newly killed earth pony sniffles, "I can't go to the great beyond...?" Rosie thought for a moment and replied, "You all have unfinished business, and that business is me. For as long as I live, you will forever be bound on this plane." Rosie turned back to Luster, "May I leave now?" Luster wordlessly lets Rosie through as she goes into her bedroom just across the hall. Luster sat down on the couch, "So... What do you think she's going to do now?" "Her plan must be to conquer all of Equestria!" Ruby Moonlight shouted. "Yeah I got that Ruby, but what are the details? 'Conquer all of Equestria' is a pretty broad idea. How will she do it?" "I think she has a 'dream board' in her room." Sandy Dream says, "I wouldn't go in there though." "Why not?" "Because she uh... Probably is going to have some 'fun' before bed." "Oh... Yeah, I don't need to see that..." Luster facepalms, but notices one 9 ponies in front of her, "Wait... Where's Ruby?" The ghosts point towards the hall. Luster turns and sees Ruby floating to their killer's room, "Ruby where are you going?" "What? Do you think I'm going to miss out on the show?" Ruby questions. Luster just stares blankly at Ruby, "Yeah I'm not going to question or stop you..." Luster faceplants into the couch. This existence hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows for her at all.
Chapter 2The sun rises on a new day for Rosie Plague, as she gets out of bed after a long night of reading her secret collection of books and using her fun toys. Rosie takes her sheets off of her bed and puts them in the laundry shoot. It's been a week since she's cleaned them, they were in need of a wash anyway. Still very tried, Rosie looks up to see Ruby, sleeping. Rosie shrugged, it wasn't the first time Rub watched her during the fun hour, and Rosie didn't mind, though sometimes she wishes she can touch a ghost, then none of the ghosts would be safe from her tendencies. Rosie's fantasies aside, she walked over to the bathroom to wash up and get ready for the day and to wash her sins of the previous night, lust-driven or otherwise. The steam of the hot shower relaxed the tenseness of the wing muscles on the snow-white pony, as the red water rushes off of the pony and into the drain, the blood from last night disappearing from view. Rosie stood there letting the waterfall rain on her, thinking. She could feel the sins of her actions crawl within her heart of hearts, the darkness crawling and clawing within her soul. Was this guilt? Was it regret taking those ponies' lives? No, it couldn't be, as all the greatest rulers have done what she did to gain power: Kill whoever stands in the way of you and the throne. And she knew exactly who stood in between her and the Throne of Equestria. But she couldn't dwell on that now, as Rosie turned off the shower, dried off, and put on her robe, her mind started to race once more, this time on how to free her recruitments. Rosie knew she needs an army to start conquering Equestria, and what better way to have an army than to create one from the ground up, and she knew exactly what creature to use for that. But there was a problem with the other two. Rosie already had magic stealing, and she didn't need a child. Rosie sat in the living room, her husky sleeping in his bed. She looked to the framed items on the mantel: The stolen cutie marks, with Luster's at the top. The time and dates of each of their deaths on a golden plate on the bottom frame. Rosie signed and took a history book from the nearby shelf: Houyhnhnm's Guide to Magical Arcana, Rosie's go-to book when it comes to magical wears. She flips through the book and looks for the correct page. "Aye!" Somepony shouts, frightening Rosie into closing the book. She looks over and sees one of the newly killed Pegasi, Crystal Aurora, "What's up doc?" "You adjusted to being a ghost rather quickly." Rosie deadpans, going back into her book. "Well I guess so but you might as well tell me whatcha don'." "'Whatcha don'.' is very important work, that someone like you won't understand, as it requires the highest understandings of magic." "Weeeeeeeeell... I'm not a great wizard or anything but looks like you are trying to find a spell that can break a stone spell." "Congratulations, you can read." "And correct me if I'm wrong, but there are only three major villains still trapped in stone somewhere. And, and this is a shot in the dark, but you plan to free those villains from their prison and use them as your lackeys." Rosie simply looked back at Crystal, saying unamusingly, "How could you tell?" "Wild guess." "Well since you guessed correctly, I might as well say, yes, I am planning to free Chrysalis, but I don't think I have a plan for Cozy Glow or Tirek. I'll probably keep them as stone or kill them. We'll see what happens.” “And by ‘we’ you mean you.” “For one of my newest victims, you learn fast.” “I’ll take that.” Crystal floated away from Rosie’s view. “What a weird ghost of mine.” Rosie comments, going back to her book, reading and taking notes of the to do to reverse the spell.
Chapter 3Back behind the relatively safe walls of Chanterlot, Gallus walks about the palace walls, leading two stallion guards with him. The three of them could feel the coldness of the palace walls and floor, as the princess has been spending almost all of her time trying to solve the Cutie Mark Ripper case. Gallus could feel the despair and sorrow throughout the walls, but he didn't want to get it in his head that all hope was lost. But now in present, Gallus and his mini-company meet a closed door, "Halt." He raised a fist in the air as the veteran stallion stopped while the newly trained bumps into the veteran. "Hey, watch it, newbie." The green mane stallion scolded. "Oh sorry, sir..." The black mane stallion whimpered. "Relax, you aren't in trouble, Midnight." Gallus reassured, "Today, the niece of Queen Novo and her friends will be here for the Friendship Summit to representing their species, and Princess Twilight asked for each of them to have a personal bodyguard in case of an attack or something along those lines." "Uh, sir, not to question the princess' choice, but won't it maker more sense for the girls to have mares as a bodyguard, so they can be protected at all times and feel less uncomfortable?" "Look, the guard is spread pretty thin across Chanterlot, I couldn't spare anyone else other than us three." "Makes sense..." Midnight says. "Anyways, Justice, you will be guarding Smolder. Midnight, you're guarding Ocellus, and I'll be guarding Silverstream." Midnight and Justice salute and with a nod, Gallus opens the door, revealing a dragon, a changeling, and a hippogriff. "Hey look, guys! Gallus is here!" The hippogriff shouts charging and glomping Gallus, hugging him tightly. "Oof! Hey Silverstream. Good to see you too." Gallus grunts, having a little trouble breathing. Justice walks over to the dragon, "Smolder, I presume?" "Yep that' s me. I don't get why we need bodyguards." "Because the Princess said a very dangerous being is on the loose." Ocellus says, "Best be safe than sorry." "Oh... Yeah..." Silverstream's bubbly personality deflates rather quickly, "Hey Gallus? Can we talk in private?" "Uh, yeah sure. Justice, Midnight, you know what to do." "Yes sir!" The two stallions saluted, walking away with their VIC or very important creature. "So... Miss Ocellus." Midnight began, as he and Ocellus walk to her private dorm. "Yes?" "Uh... This is going to sound like a weird question, but are there other changelings other than the changeling kingdom ruled by Thorax?" "Hm... Good question. As a matter of fact, yes. But they aren't on this landmass. We used to be connected to them, but I guess they wanted to burn those bridges before the idea of giving love instead of taking it could reach their changelings." "Hm... I see." Midnight appears more relaxed, "What about Chrysalis?" Ocellus stops in her tracks, raising an eyebrow at the stallion, "What about her?" "Um...." Midnight shrinks back, "I was just curious... I mean... The stone spell didn't last too long for Discord, how do we know that Chrysalis won't return with a changeling army?" "She didn't return with a changeling army the third time she returned. I am sure she won't return with an army of any kind, seeing as she's turned to stone." Ocellus emphasized. "I... I know..." Midnight glances around, "Oh look!" Midnight points to a door, "There's your room! heh..." Ocellus walks to her room, keeping an eye on Midnight. Once Ocellus closes the door behind her, Midnight sighs a sigh of relief. Was it so bad he could ask questions? He sits at his post, for he does not know. "Are you sure you want to speak with her Silverstream?" Gallus asks, walking with the worried hippogriff. "I... I don't want to, I need to talk to her. It's been 6 months and I've been trying to reach out to her, to comfort her. I know what's it's like to be fearful of someone that can and will hurt you." She turns to Gallus, "And you out of anyone should know what's it like to feel alone." "I guess I never thought of it that way..." The duo reaches the stained glass window hall, looking at various depictions on the walls. One that caught Gallus' eye was one with 6 creatures: A pony, a griffin, a changeling, a yak, and a hippogriff, all appeared to be fighting a large armored beast. Gallus smiled, looking up at the window, "Remember that day? We fought the tarrasque that was tearing up the countryside?" Silverstream stopped and looked up at the stained glass window, smiling bittersweetly, "Yeah... But I don't really want to think about it. Kinda don't want to remember how awkward it was after the battle." "Oh... Right..." Gallus looked away from Silverstream, remember that day. That was the day Gallus wanted to confess his feeling to Silverstream, but the Princess summoned them, to take care of the tarrasque that had escaped Tartarus. After the battle, Gallus finally confessed, even gave Silverstream a kiss, but Silverstream didn't feel the same way, and they remained friends. That day reminded Gallus of victory and a bittersweet confession. "Come on, Gallus. Let’s not keep the princess waiting.” Silverstream placed a claw on Gallus’ shoulder, plated with golden armor. Gallus smiled at his friend, “Yeah, let’s go.” The duo walks through the door leading to the throne room. There, sitting regally on her throne was the Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Twilight looks at the Griffin and Hippogriff, smiling at her former students. "Your majesty." The two say, bowing down. Twilight laughs and flies down from her golden throne, "No need to be so formal. It's nice to see you again, Silverstream." "It's good to finally meet with you again. I hope you're doing well." Silverstream says wearily. "I'm... Doing better... I suppose...It's been a rough 6 months but I'm working hard to solve the case." "Trust me, she has been." Gallus comments. "So... Why weren't you responding to my letters? I was so worried about you." Silverstream walks with Twilight, Gallus following close behind. "I was meaning to send you a letter, but I could never find the time to mail it, not only that, but new cases popped up, I had to focus all my attention on it." Twilight explained. "Uh-huh. I see... Well, glad to see you're doing well, Princess." "And I'm glad to see one of my former students making her way to the Friendship Summit." Suddenly, a very loud sneeze is heard from the stained glass hall, startling the three creatures. A familiar green maned stallion, now coughing up ask and scorched in the face, stumbles into the throne room, "Why do the dragon sneeze trees always bloom around this time?" And falls to the floor, as Smolder walks in, rubbing the snot off her nose. "You're going to need a fire management team out there..." She says, trying to keep another sneeze in. Twilight could help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation, "Yes yes, I'll get some help." She laughs some more, "My I haven't laughed like this in a while." Gallus looks over to Silverstream who is giving him a hopeful grin. Gallus smiles as well. Silverstream's mission is turning out as a success so far.
Chapter 4Twilight looked at all the ponies, kirins, dragons, yaks, changelings, griffins, and hippogriffs, all here to take part in representing their species and towns. Twilight always loved the Friendship Summit, being able to see her thriving citizens in her queendom. However, in her heart of hearts, Twilight knew the enemy would use this event as an opportunity to strike. With the recent multiple pony missing case still fresh in her mind, Twilight knew that with such a large event and crowd, the killer could easily kill someone, and no one would know until it was too late. That won't due. Twilight had her guard spread far and wide all across Chanterlot, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. Everyone was to enter and leave the city, alive. She would make sure of it. But for now, it was time for the first event: The Princess Q&A Session, an event where anyone can ask the princess a question and she would answer to the best of her ability. Transparency was her best policy, after all. Best to tell the public know about events that are going on. With a lift of her hoof, the crowd falls silent, "Welcome to the Friendship Summit!" The crowd cheers for the regal princess, "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and welcome to Princess Q&A." Twilight watches at everyone in the crowd shuffles pencil and paper around, ready to record her answers, "Let's begin with you, the yellow and green changeling there!" She pointing to said changeling. "Ah yes! Will there be new laws for changeling polymorphing?" The changeling asks. "Yes, in fact, I am working with Thorax to reform the current laws, so changelings can better express how they perceive themselves." Notes were taken on that statement, "Yes, the large light blue dragon in the back." She points to the dragon. "Uh, you made a statement early in the year that you are going to help with the problem of overpopulation in the Dragonlands. How do you plan to help with that?" "Well, I spoke with Dragonlord Ember, and we came to an agreement that some locations in Equestria's borders would be perfect for the dragons, so we are establishing communities of dragons to help with the overpopulation issue." More notes were taken; this was going smoothly for the Princess, "How about-" "Where's Luster Dawn?" A voice speaks out. The princess stiffens, her eyes widen at the thought of that question. Not too far away near the snack bar, Gallus, Ocellus, Smolder, and Silverstream watch from afar, listening carefully to what was being said. "Eh... W-who said that?" Twilight looked amongst the crowd. "It was me." A voice speaks. The crowd moves away from the figure, who wore a large black cloak. "Who are you? Show yourself!" Twilight demanded. The cloaked figures chuckled and ripped the cloak off. They were a kirin mare, with a blue coat, and purple mane, green details, and dark green eyes. She smiled at the Princess, stepping forwards, "We meet at last, your highness." "Jokes Kard..." Twilight mumbles. "Oh, I didn't know you knew of me. Strange, since I'm just a little kirin from nowhere Equestria." Another step forward, the crowd backs away, "But please dear princess. I, no, we must know what happened to your star student. Several of us haven't seen her in ages, and we are all growing worried about her whereabouts." "Gallus..." Smolder shakes the gold plating of the griffin's armor. "Yeah yeah, I see it." Gallus signals for the guards in the surrounding area to follow his direction. "I... I don't..." Twilight stampers back. "You don't know where she is?" Jokes asked. "I didn't say-" Twilight was cut off when Jokes ups on stage, turning to the crowd. "My fellow Equestrians! There is a secret the Princess has been keeping from us! As we all know, there has been a string of disappearances all throughout the land. The only issue I have is the fact, when I spoke with the families of the disappeared ponies, is that these were not disappearances..." The crowd begins to murmur, "... But murders!" The crowd gasps in utter shock, looking to the Princess for answers. "Is it true Princess Twilight?" One stallion asks. "I... Ummm..." Twilight could feel the panic set in. "You've been lying to us?!" A yak yells. Twilight could feel the air closing around her. "What other secrets are you hiding?" A hippogriff questions. More questions start to be thrown Twilight's way, and Jokes let this go on for another minute before speaking. "The killer behind all the murders is known as The Cutie Mark Ripper! And Princess Twilight has sent her star student to find the killer. And just where is Luster now? Not even the princess knows!" "Miss, please get off the stage." A guard asks. "Let her speak!" Some of the crowd shouts. "Twilight Sparkle has sent her student on a deadly mission to find a killer. Alone!" The crowd started to rally, as Princess Twilight was being ushered out by her four former students away from the crowd, as the guards try to calm the crowd, "What does that say for the transparent policy Twilight has implemented? What is this princess hiding?! Will we stand for this?!" The crowd jeers at the idea of having a ruler who holds secrets away from them, the guards quickly become overrun with the angry mob, "We need a strong ruler! One who will not stand for these killings! One who will allow public knowledge to help them rule the land! Who's with me!?" The crowd cheers at that, but the guards heard enough, one trying to tackle Jokes off the stage, but Jokes teleported away from the guards and the crowd, running away into Chanterlot. "Get her!" A guard yells out, as 3 others chase after the crazed kirin. Meanwhile, just outside the window of the Princess' room, as crowd jeers and throws objects at the closed window, trying to get in. Gallus from inside, closes all the curtains in the room, as Smolder lights some candles and while Silverstream and Ocellus comfort the panicked Princess, giving her a weighted blanket to help her, "It's ok Princess, remember your breathing exercises." Silverstream reminded. There's a knock at the door, which caused Twilight to hid in her pile of pillows and blankets. Smolder turns to the door, "Who's there!?" She said threateningly. "It's Spike, Smolder!" "Oh." She opened the door, and there was Spike, very, very concerned about his big sister. "Twilight..." He walks over to the frightened Princess, "Hey... It's me, I came here as fast as I could when I heard the noise of angry populace." Twilight peeks her head out of the blankets, tears coming down her face, "What did I do wrong Spike...? One minute the crowd loved me as the leader they know I can be, but then the next minute-" A rock crashes into the glass window, startling Twilight to retreat back into her fort. "Ah, shoot. Ocellus, can you scare the crowd away?" Gallus asks, putting the rock on the desk. "Bugbear?" She asks. "Yep. Add fire breathing snakes for all I care. Go nuts." Ocellus salutes and heads out the door, "There, the crowd should disperse in three... Two... One..." A bear-like roar is heard outside the window as the crowd screams and scatters. Ocellus returns through the window. Twilight pokes her head out of her blanket burrito, "Thank you... Everyone... But I need some time to myself. A lot has happened." "Yeah, that's fair. We can leave." Smolder says. Silverstream and Ocellus nodded and headed out with Smolder. Gallus was about to leave with Spike before Twilight stopped him. "Oh, Gallus." "Yes, your majesty?" "Can you see that Jokes Kard is arrested? I want to question her." "You got it, Princess." Gallus then leaves with Spike, who closes the door behind them. Twilight was alone once again, processing what just transpired.
Chapter 5"Alright, bring her in," Gallus says in the interrogation room, which was just an empty room in the palace with a hanging light, two chairs, and a table. Two guards bring in a chained up Jokes Kard, who just had a magic barrier spell placed on her since apparently, she knew advanced magic. She was sat down in front of Gallus, the recorder got his quill and parchment ready, and the unicorn who was in charge of seeing if Jokes was telling the truth or not got her spell ready. Start time: 3:45 pm. "Alright, Jokes Kard. I am Gallus, head of the royal guard." Gallus stated for the record. "Nice to meet you, Gallus." "Let's not get too chummy now, let's get to the main thing I want to know: How much do you know about the Cutie Mark Ripper?" "Eh, I know as much as anyone else: They are a killer." Gallus looked to the guard with the lie detector spell, "She's telling the truth." She said. "Yes... Alright. Is there anything you know that the public doesn't already know?" "Nope. The Cutie Mark Ripper could be anyone or anything. There is no set pattern other than the fact they were all of the victims were powerful magic users." Gallus looked to the guard, "She's telling the truth." Gallus sighed, "I guess that line of questioning won't get us anywhere." Gallus pulled up his chair to sit in it, "Alright Jokes Kard, tell us where you're from." "Well..." Jokes started to think, "I grew up in a town called Lostpeak." Gallus looked over, and the guard's horn didn't glow red, "Continue." "Yeah, Lostpeak. Both my parents were Kirins, talented magic users, and I was their only kid." "She lied on that last part." The mare lie detector said. "Ok fine! I have 4 brothers but I don't like talking about them." Kard said, seeming very upset. "Alright... Continue..." Gallus said. "With my life story? Gladly." “Wait no, that’s not what I-“ Gallus got cut off. “I was born on a Wednesday evening, my mother and father weren’t expecting me, but they wanted me anyways-“ This was going to be a long interrogation... And Gallus only had one pot of coffee. 6:15 pm. "-So when I heard about the Cutie Mark Ripper-" Gallus perked up when he heard ‘Cutie Mark Ripper', “I went to ask the families about it, and learned that they were magic users and you know what I realized?” “What? What did you realize?” “That Princess Twilight Sparkle hates magical talented ponies.” Gallus slammed his head on the table, “It’s all a conspiracy, man! She wants to get rid of all the magic users to stop ponies from rising up against her! The Cutie Mark Ripper is Twilight Sparkle!” “Alright, we established this mare is crazy. Take her away.” Two guards swoop in and take the crazy mare away, “Hey! Unhoof me! I speak the truth! I speak the truuuuuuuuuuu-“ SLAM! The door behind them close, as Gallus slams his head into the table again. “Another cup of coffee, sir?” The lie detector mare asks. “Bring me the whole darn pot, Susan...” Susan turns on the brewery once again for the griffin captain, “You know sir... All she said was true. She genuinely believes the Princess is the Ripper.” “It's a good thing she didn’t drill that into the heads of the angry crowd...” “Yeah...” Susan brings the pot to Gallus, who happily slurps it down, “Although, she clearly doesn’t seem to know anything about the actual ripper, other than what everyone now knows and conspiracies against the princess.” Gallus slams the coffee pot against the table, surprisingly not shattering it, “I’ll have to talk to Princess Twilight. Jokes Kard is probably going to get exiled to somewhere far from Equestria. I don't know how Rain Shine will take it." "She's the leader of the kirins, correct?" "Yeah..." Gallus, once again, banged his head on the table, "Back to square one..." There was a knock at the door, and Gallus looked up at the door, "Come in." Midnight walked into the room, "Hey boss... Uh... Ocellus sent me here to tell you to meet them in the statue garden." "Oh great... What happened?" "I think you have to see for yourself..." Reluctantly, Gallus and Susan followed Midnight to the lovely garden of statues. Gallus stares in disbelief. There was supposed to be a statue here. There was supposed to be a statue here! There was supposed to be a statue here! There was supposed to be a statue here!, "What the actual fuck?!" He yelled. The girls looked at Gallus with a shocked expression, "Language Gallus!" Silverstream scolded, covering Ocellus' ears. Ocellus looks up at Silverstream with an unamused look. "No! NO! What the fuck?! I am so done with this! First the murderer, now the statue of the three villains is gone?!" Gallus throws his helmet on the ground, "I can't anymore, I am so done with this." Gallus began to toward the Chanterlot hedge maze, "I am going in there, and I will sulk. I'll be back in like... 10 minutes." He turned a corner and the griffin was gone. The girls give each other concerned looks, as the silence was replaced with the rustling of trees and the whispers of the wind, "Well... Fuck..." Smolder said, looking at the dirt where the statue once stood, "No marks, no clues anywhere. And no witness... The perfect heist..." The girls sit in silence, all three wonder what's going to happen now the three greatest villains are now in the hands or hooves of someone possible dangerous.
Chapter 6Luster Dawn, Solar Snow, and Sandy Dream watched as their snow-white killer struggle to move the large statue of the three villains of old to her dingy basement, "Stupid, heavy, thing!" Their killer keeps saying over and over. "So... What is her plan again?” Luster asks, “You went to go look at her board, right Sandy?" "Uh yeah... It said that she wants to build an army and she's going to use Chrysalis to do that, but it kinda tapered off into some weird notes. Something involving ropes, and other weapons of the bedroom." Sandy raised and lowered her eyebrows quickly, giving the other two ghost bedroom eyes, which caused them to laugh in hysterics. Rosie heard all this and a bright red blush appeared on the alicorn's face, "H-hey! Stop going through my board!" "Well, it's kinda hard to miss with all the red string and saucy language," Sandy said smugly, which only turned Rosie a deeper shade of red and the other two ghosts to laugh even more, "And besides, you make it any secret you are lonely in bed." "Stop, stop it!" Rosie whined as the ghost follow her to the dungeon. "Hm. Bringing your potential bedroom mates into the dungeon? Kinky." Solar comments. "This place is only for imprisonment, perverts!" Rosie yells, placing the villains in the cage, locking it, and activating the electric shock. "Hey, I never said anything. Why are you calling me a pervert?" Luster Dawn asks, "Also, I'm pretty sure that's a child there." She points to Cozy Glow. Rosie's flustered face turned one of minor annoyance, "I am aware the stone spell persevered Cozy's age. That does stop me from potential keeping her in a stone prison, or just killing her so I don’t have to worry about the spell wearing off." "Wow... Killing foals. That's a new low, even for you." Solar Snow says, crossing her forelimbs. Rosie rolled her eyes and ignored the ghosts continuing comments; she needed to focus. There was much work to be done. There were a few things she didn't want to do, but if push comes to shove, she must do it. After testing that the cage is thoroughly electrified, Rosie dawned her fateful mask. It was time to release the villains. During her time in Chanterlot, she managed to snag the Talisman of Mirage. It being a talisman, it was embedded with powerful magic, and combined with her magic, she hopes that the spell she came up with will allow her to break the spell, releasing the villains from their prison. Rosie took a deep breath in, concentrating on her spell,"No fear..." She says in her head, magic flowing through her horn, "The void of thought and feeling is before you. Recuse the stolen souls." Rosie sees three glowing orbs: A red one, a pink one, and a green one. Her own soul reaches out to help them but just seems so out of reach, "No residence. Hold on to my hoof, and let's leave the darkness." Suddenly, Rosie's eyes glow white as she blasts a powerful beam of magic at the statue. Rosie is knocked back after the blast, but as soon as she recovered, she saw her spell had worked, the statue was cracking and there was light glimmering out of said cracks! Talisman gave her the magic she needed. Rosie quickly grabbed her black cloak and put it on, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to send the villains to sleep. The stone prison was finally broken, as Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow discovered when they all fall to the floor, the stone base holding them up broken and shattered around them. Groaning and moaning as they move their aching joints for the first time in years, Chrysalis was the first to notice something was wrong, "Wait. No no no!" She quickly stands up and runs for the bars, but was repelled back by the powerful Electric shock, "Agh! Oh for the love of..." Chrysalis grunted for a minute, going from angry to terrified, trying to do, something. "And just what are you trying to do?" Tirek asks, looking over how weak he was. "Magic! I'm trying to blast those bars open! But, I can’t seem to-“ She tries again but to no avail. Tirek gives it a go, using all his strength to blast those bars, but he couldn’t muster up a tiny ball of magic, exhausting himself trying, “Anti... Antimagic shielding and electric bars? Whoever has put us here know how much of a threat we propose.” “And unless Chrysalis can change her form.” The two look over and see the young pegasus poking at the stone floor, “There’s no way to dig through this solid rock.” “Hm. Can you change form?” Tirek asks. Chrysalis thought for a moment and started to grunt again, but stopped almost immediately, falling to her knees, “No I cannot. I’m afraid I am far too weak to change my form.” Cozy Glow followed suit, sitting on her knees, “Well, what can we do?” “Nothing at the moment. We just...” Chrysalis was stopped by a yawn, “We just got to wait for our captors to come and... And...” Chrysalis laid her head down as she suddenly became very sleepy. She looks over and saw Cozy Glow already passed out. Chrysalis for her part closed her eyes too, falling asleep. Tirek, being a big dude, saw his two comrades fall asleep and noticed the strange sound: water gushing? No, it sounded like pressurized gas, like steam escaping a pipe. He could feel himself getting dizzy but he wasn’t going to let whatever this invisible sleepy mist get to him, shaking his head and working himself up. Rosie continued to watch from the shadows, her mask repelling the sleeping gas. She wanted to use more gas but that will run the risk of giving Chrysalis and Cozy Glow a dangerous dose. Luckily, she had a plan B. Rosie had to act fast though. Rosie quickly used magic to open a nearby chest, taking out a modified paint gun and three darts of some kind. Unfortunately for Rosie, Tirek spots the glow of the magic, and gets into a defensive stance, "Who's there? Show yourself, coward!" Rosie did not obligate, simply loading her paint gun with the darts. "Bonne Nuit, Centaur." Rosies says, teleporting on the other side of the room, firing two darts into Tirek's side. Tirek yells in agony and rips the two darts out of his side, but unfortunately for him, Rosie fires the last one into it. Tirek rips that one out too, but the damage is done, with the combination of the sleeping gas and the darts, Tirek falls to his side, quickly falling asleep without any more fighting. Rosie's plan was coming together as she laughs devilishly.
Chapter 7Cozy Glow was the first to awaken from her unprompted nap. She looks to her left and she spotted her comrades, asleep and chained up, with Terik gagged with two different color cloths. A little scared, she looked around the room. It appeared to be an office, bookshelves hanging on the dark brown walls, filled with books and other nicknacks. In front of her was a desk filled with papers, books, and a desk plate that read, "The Boss". Behind this desk was a massive painting, one framed in gold and depicted many events of history: Grogar's reign and fall, the Earth ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi's union under the banner of Equestria, the rise of the royal sisters, the rise and disappearance of the Pillars of Equestria, the royal sister defeat of Discord, the defeat of Sombra, the banishment of Nightmare Moon, the defeat of Nightmare Moon and the return of Luna, the second defeat of Discord, the defeat of Chrysalis, the second defeat of Sombra, the reformation of Discord, Twilight's ascension to Alicorndom, the defeat of Terik, the birth of Flurry Heart, Chrysalis second defeat, the return of the Pillars and defeat of the Pony of Shadows, the defeat of the Storm King, the union of all six races of Equestria and Beyond, the defeat of Cozy Glow, the final battle against Chrysalis, Terik, and Cozy Glow, and Twilight's ascension to ruler of all Equestria. Cozy had to admit, it was beautiful, but there was one last part towards the bottom of the painting that worried her: The colorful background turned into a black ink texture, dripping down into a blood-red and a symbol sits at the bottom: A crown with two bleeding swords behind it. Cozy felt a little uneasy looking at it. "What? What is this? Why are we chained?!" Cozy Glow looks over and sees Chrysalis and Terik were away, equally as confused, with Terik trying to ungag himself but failing to due to his chains being too short. "I... I don't know." Cozy Glow looks at her chains; should be enough to fly a short distance and look around better. Cozy Glow jumps up to fly but couldn't feel her wings open, falling back to earth, "Oof... What?" She looks over to her back and sees her wings were clamped to her body. She looks over and sees Chrysalis has discovered a similar fate, "This could be bad..." "You think?! We are in chains and I cannot change again!" Chrysalis huff, ever more frustrated, "This is probably a meeting with whoever captured us." Terik grunts and nods in agreement, "See, Terik sees where this is going." "It's a good thing I didn't end up killing him then." A voice says. The three villains look over and see a snow-white unicorn wearing a black drape. She walks past the villains and sits in the boss chair, sitting in a very intimating pose, “that would have been a very bad thing, won’t it?” Before either of the ladies could reply, Terik starts grunting angrily, pointing at his gag, the chain, generally asking ‘why?!’, “Well... I couldn’t the magic draining centaur steal my magic, now could I?” Teirk groans in annoyance. “Um... Miss.” Cozy Glow raises her hoof as high as the chains allowed her, “Chryisalles can drain love. Why isn’t she gaged?” “Hey!” Chrysalis looked at Cozy with utter betrayal. “I’m just asking, I'm not wishing it on you.” “Well...” the unicorn started, “I made it a point to make sure I am drained of the emotional kind of love, the one Changelings can feed off of. I only fuel myself with lust-fueled love.” She smugly smiled. “Hm...” Terik grunted. Cozy merely gagged at the thoughts that were running through her head. “Either or less, I took into account all of you and your abilities. Terik and his magic stealing, Chrysalis, and her changeling abilities and love stealing, and Cozy Glow." The unicorn pauses, looking at Cozy, "You uh... You're a pegasus. You have that going for you." "Rude..."Cozy remarks. "Enough talk!" Chrysalis charges towards the unicorn, only stopping when the chains don't allow it, "Who are you? Why did you free us only to imprison us in a cage and then chains?" The unicorn raises a hoof to calm the situation, "Please. All will be explained, but for now, you may call me Rosie Plague." "Rosie Plague? I think I heard that name before." Cozy thinks aloud, "Yeah... Weren't you that unicorn that could steal magic?" That caught the ears of Terik, who went from disinterested and annoyed to very interested in a split second. Rosie giggled like a little school filly, "Oh those were the good old days. That bully didn't know what hit her when I stole her magic and gained my mark, while she lost her's. It was devilishly delicious. Then again, the doctors and professors never could figure out how I could steal magic. It was always a mystery. But why would I question such a blessing, when it's a key factor to my conquest?" "Conquest?" Chrysalis questions. "Yes. You see, I have a vision. A kingdom of my very own, one where I am recognized as a Goddess Queen, and I know that you want revenge on the princess and her friends for imprisoning you, so I'm proposing a deal: You help me and my allies establish a base of operations to rival Twilight, and I shall reward you for your endeavors something of great value: Power within my kingdom." The three villains look at each other; this offer was too good to be true, and yet, too good to pass up, "Why?" Chrysalis speaks for the group, "Why do you need us?" Rosie looked at Chrysalis and merely saw her for what she needed. She stands in her chair and goes muzzle to muzzle with Chrysalis, "Because I know you want to raise a brand new army. And an army is just what I need out of you."Rosie's voice was cold and collected, precise, and exact. She sinks back to her seat, "I'll give you the night to think about it. Accept, and expect a great reward. Refuse, and you may never see the light of day ever again." With a spark of magic, the three villains were teleported back to the dungeon, without their bindings but imprisoned once again. Terik, for his part, rubbed his jaw, as the gag was finally off of him, "Finally. That gag was very uncomfortable." "That pony herself made me uncomfortable..." Cozy Glow shutters. the duo look over to Chrysalis, who was sitting in the corner, silent, "Oh hey, what's wrong with you?" "I... Don't want to speak about it," Chrysalis says with her normal attitude. The other villains shrug and make themselves comfortable in the dungeon. That evening, they slept soundly, with Cozy using Terik as a heated mat, however, Chrysalis didn't sleep that evening, thinking about Rosie. How does Rosie think she could provide an army? She couldn't provide an army, it's been forever since she had any... That was a very sleepless night. Author's Note Hey guys! I’m going to take a little break from writing. Nothing wrong, I’m just tired. Need to mentally prepare myself for what is next!
Chapter 8Author's Note Alright, I'm ready now! Let's hecking do this!!! Chapter 8 The three villains find themselves in a bit of a competition, and all three were neck and neck, all resulting in the snow-white pony judge to make the final call: Who has the best-looking pancake stack? It didn’t go towards the larger goal of conquering all of Equestria, but everyone was hankering for some breakfast so a friendly bonding contest was just what the villains needed to reaffirm their pact. Rosie even let Tirek go ungaged, just to show how trusting she can be if he’s on his best behavior. First was Chrysalis’ stack. The pancakes looked either undercooked or overcooked, and the whipped cream and strawberries were in the form of some mare’s face Rosie didn’t recognize, “It’s Starlight Glimmer if you couldn’t tell.” Chrysalis explained, “She was the one who destroyed my queendom and turned my subjects against me!” Rosie simply nodded and moved on to the next stack. Cozy’s stack looked well-cooked all the way through, and the pancakes were decorated with whipped cream and edible cookie dough. Except when Rosie tasted it, the cream was heavy. In fact, it wasn’t whipped cream at all! It was buttercream. When Rosie made that discovery, Cozy simply shrugged, “I know you can’t stand whipped cream, judging by you only having one can of it and a bunch of pre-made buttercream bags you had in the fridge.” Rosie smiled and nodded, turning to the last stack. Tirek's stack was something to behold: The stack was craved up to look like Terik’s face with the whipped cream acting as his horns and the chocolate chips as his eyes. Despite the fact he was a barbarian at heart, he had quite the artistic talent, Rosie could tell. She smiled and nodded, “There is no contest, Terik wins.” “Ha ha! Yes!” Tirek cheers. “Oh golly, congrats Tirek! I guess...” Cozy says, saying that last bit in a not so subtle sarcasm. “Noooooo!” Chrysalis yells in a dramatic fashion, falling to the floor as someone would on a fainting couch. The villains look at each other funny before Chrysalis pulled herself together and sat in her chair again. “Well, since Tirek won, I guess you deserve a prize for not only winning but for not even attempting to steal magic.” Rosie walks over to one of her many drawers in her kitchen. “Well since we are now allies, for the time being, I see no reason to burn bridges so early,” Tirek explains, with Cozy and Chrysalis nodding along, agreeing. “Well, as allies, it’s only appropriate that everyone is at their full strength to aid our common goal.” Using her magic, Rosie takes out three glowing crystals and places them on the table. Her horn glows brighter and brighter, the magic becoming more opaque as the crystal shards glow radiate into a ball of glowing energy, as the energy from the crystals drain. Once it is done and Rosie has drained the crystals from all their energy, which was magic, she floats the orb to Tirek, who gobbles it down, restoring himself to his 2nd form. Once rejuvenated, Tirek flexes and kisses his muscles, “Yes yes, I am aware you miss your biceps brachii.” Tirek stops mid-kiss and looks at Rosie confused, “I... Know that first part.” Rosie raised a hoof to silence the centaur, “I like to freshen myself on the anatomy of all creatures. As a wise being once said, ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.’. Now I am not saying I see you as enemies, however, is the time comes that we are no longer united, I wish to be ready to crush you in battle.” Chrysalis munches on her pancakes, “Big words coming from a pony.” She swallows her food, “considering you have done nothing much in the form of powerful magic outside what you and Cozy claim.” “Oh, my dear Queen Chrysalis. That’s because I have yet to show my true power in battle.” Rosie gets up and walks away to the other side of the kitchen, using magic to take out some ink, a quail, and some parchment, “But that’s not to say that battle is the final outcome; I wish to avoid it if I can. But I am indeed ready for it. Now... I must summon the only being in all of Equestria that can really fuck me.” Cozy spits out the orange juice she was drinking and turns to Rosie, wide eye, “What did you say!?” She says terrified. “That can really protect me! Protect us.” Rosie started to write on the paper, “Since we are all immensely powerful, expect for Cozy-“ “Hey.” “-Discord can easily track us down if we are not careful, and we don’t want that now do we?” She rolls up the scroll and sets it aflame, sending it to whoever, “So I am summoning an ally of mine, while also requesting he brings along another ally, one that will help us build the army we need to start conquering towns.” The three villains looked at each other, eyebrows raised, with Chrysalis looking very unconformable, “And just... What does that entail?” She asks Rosie. Rosie simply giggles, “You know what it means. I know something about you.” Rosie giggles some more and walks out of the kitchen, taking some apples with her. Tirek sighs and sits on the ground, as no chairs were strong enough to support him, “So. What’s our plan then?” “Uh... Our plan?” Cozy questions. “Yes! Our plan! We’re going to backstab her as we did with Gorgar/Discord, yes?” “Well actually.” Cozy flies up next to Tirek, “I think Miss Plague has a pretty solid plan. There aren’t any flaws with it that are obvious. Sticking with her is the best course of action.” “Did she bribe you to say that?” Tirek says accusingly. “Oh golly, of course not Terik. And even if she did, would I be telling you something I didn’t believe in?” “Eh, I don’t know to trust you when you have that face. Uhehhh...” Tirek scratches his chin, “I don’t know, I fear the Princess and her friends are still too powerful.” He turns to Chrysalis, “What do you-“ He stopped mid-sentence when they see Chrysalis stabbing at her food, looking worried and stressed. Cozy flies over to Chrysalis, “I’m not asking because we’re friends or anything, but are you ok? You’ve been pretty mopey lately.” “Yeah. Aside from the imprisonment and the chains and that stupid gag, Rosie has been a decent hostess. Why are you looking a gifted horse in the mouth?” Tirek nudges Cozy, “Haha, get it? Because she’s a horse?” Cozy looks at him unamused and Tirek's smile drops, “Yeah ok...” Chrysalis sighs and straightens up in her seat, “I don’t want to speak about it!” “Come on Chrysalis!” Cozy pestered, “Spill the beans!” “I will not!” “Come on, we are all allies here.” Tirek pestered as well. “I will not indulge in the fact that I cannot hatch out a new army of changelings!” Chrysalis, upon realizing what she just said, covered her mouth. “‘Hatch out a new army of changelings’? What does that mean?” Cozy questions. “For as smart as you are Cozy, you aren’t that bright in other aspects.” Tirek deadpans before turning to Chrysalis, “You want me to tell her?” “Yes...” Chrysalis banged her head against the table. Tirek rolled his eyes and turned back to Cozy Glow, “Cozy Glow, you know the life cycle of a queen bee, yes?” “Yeah, I think so.” Cozy shrugged. “Well, I’ll quickly explain it to you. When a bee larva eats royal jelly, it becomes a queen bee. Once she has matured, she flies into the air with several other queens and drones, male bees whose only purpose is to provide the other component to make more bees.” Tirek notes the sudden face of realization on Cozy Glow, “Once that’s all said and done, she flies to a suitable place to build her hive and...” Tirek pauses to watch Chrysalis banging her head against the table, “... Lay her eggs to hatch out her colony. She keeps laying eggs for most of her life.” “Oooooh. And Chrysalis can’t hatch a new army why?” Cozy asks. “You want to know why?” Chrysalis lifts her head from the table, and Cozy and Tirek could see she was not happy. Chrysalis looked like she was seeing red, and it was not Tirek, “You want to know why I can’t hatch out a new army?! Because in the month leading up to my invasion of Chanterlot, I banged Shining Armor so many times, I wasted all of my ‘reserves’! That stallion knows how to make a mare squeal. I- I mean squirt.” Cozy Glow hovers for a moment, just processing what she just heard. She sits back down and places her hooves on her temples, “Welp, I heard everything I needed to not sleep at night.” Tirek rolled his eyes, “Least you never accidentally walked in on your parents, er... ‘Getting everything ready to giving you a brother’.” “That actually happened?!” “One of the many reasons why I dislike my brother. Hm... I wonder where he is now, now that I think about it?” Tirek pondered for a second before turning his attention back to Chrysalis, “So what do you mean by ‘reserves’ anyways? Are you completely out of-?” Chrysalis cuts him off, “No no, I am plenty fertile, trust me I checked.” More gagging from Cozy as Chrysalis continues, “I just don’t have any more fertilized eggs left in me. And I don’t dare go back to the hive to changeling-nap one of those... specimens...” Her voice had a sense of disdain. “Yeah, I know what you mean. There was this one changeling named Ocellus, and she, along with several other students, stopped me from taking all the magic from Equestria!” “Mhm! More reason not to risk it.” “Hm. So all you need is a drone?” Tirek questioned. Chrysalis nods, “Once I... Finish with him.” The two could hear Cozy going to town on the trash can, “I’ll be ready to build a new army within the year! 3,000 eggs every day with the changelings maturing within a month!” “Golly, that’s fast.” Cozy comments. Tirek counts on his fingers for a second, “If you lay eggs every day for the next month, by the very next month, we’ll have an army of 93,000 changelings!” “However, that's counting if I have 3,000 eggs every day, which is unrealistic for me.” Chrysalis said, “But it is a maximum, which is still a sizable number. Soon, if what I think is true, I will raise my army to be greater than the Equestrian army could ever muster!” “And we can finally destroy Twilight and her friends,” Tirek added. “And take over all of Equestria!” Cozy proclaimed. The villains laugh evilly as Chrysalis jumps on the table, “We all thought too selfishly the last time we teamed up. We thought powering ourselves up with Gorgar’s bell was enough to destroy anypony in our path, and it nearly was, but our bickering caused us to fail. Now, with the support of our patron, we will be able to shape the land however we please!” “Yeah!” The other villains cheered. They all had a laugh in triumph, agreeing that their plan was flawless! Unknown to them, a ghostly pink coat unicorn watched them from the corner of the room. She’s been there all morning, taking notes about their activity. Things were about to get interesting.
Chapter 10Flurry Heart paced about her room in the Crystal Empire Palace. Things haven't been well in Chanterlot, she heard. The common folk of the great city was in arms in rebellion, preaching the words of a kirin that was currently rotting in the dungeons under the castle. Her auntie Twilight hasn't been taking it too well, and either has she. When Flurry learned of Luster's death 6 months ago, her world shattered, and the empire fell into a period of great grief and sadness, for Princess Flurry Heart was the Princess of Emotions, and with her being connected to the Cyrstal Heart when her world shattered, the Heart pulsed a wave of sadness one resident of the empire describes as, 'A wave of cold seawater and we are all drowning.'. Flurry has been slowly accepting reality, much like her aunt, but Flurry knew there will always be a pit in her heart that Luster once filled. Now with this unrest in Chanterlot, Flurry had no idea how to feel or what to do. Everything was just, so confusing to her. A knock was at her door, "EH!" Flurry tripped and fell on her face, "ow... Come in..." She picked herself up and turned around. It was her dad, Shining Armor, "Oh dad! You're back!" Flurry runs up and hugs her father, "How's the situation in Chanterlot?" Shining sighed and walked around the room, "Not good. A lot of factions are angry in some shape or form. Twilly isn't doing too well either. She's holding herself together for now but I just know she's going to break, I just know it. I only came back to check on you and your mother. How is she doing anyway?" Furry shook her head, "Not good. With the disappearance of the statue of the villains, mom is freaking out. She's saying things like, 'what if she comes back!? What if she hurts some pony!?'. Like, mom, Chrysalis was defeated like, 3 times now!" "I know that's what it seems Flurry. But you got to remember, your mom was through a lot before Chrysalis was turned to stone. Getting replaced before the wedding, getting captured again." "Yeah, I vaguely remember slime when I was a baby." "Exactly. Chrysalis is bad news. That's not to say Tirek or Cozy Glow aren't threats either." "How is a child dangerous?" Shining stared at Flurry, raising an eyebrow, "... Point taken." "Look, we can't just sit around and do nothing. I've done what I could in Chanterlot but I don't think it's enough." Shining looked out the window to the outside world, "Our only bet is to find the Cutie Mark Ripper, and show the creatures of our home that the Princess of Friendship is the ruler they all need." "Dad, do you understand how big of a task that is? No connections other than the sigil, no connections on locations, no suspects, and the closest suspect we go knows nothing!" Flurry bangs her face into the wall, shaking the room a little, "And with the statue gone... Who knows what's going to happen..." Shining sighs and walks up to Flurry, patting her on the back, "I know this is a lot for you, and I'm sorry I accidentally roped you into it, but please, promise me you'll be ok?" Flurry looks up at her dad, hope still in his eyes even after all that has happened. She smiled and hugged him, "Ok dad. Thank you for being ok yourself." The two embraced for a little while longer before breaking away, Shining wiping away 'liquid pride' from his eyes, as he calls it. He walks towards the door before turning his head back to his daughter, "I'll see you around, my little blizzard." And leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Flurry giggles a little at what her father said. It was a running joke with her family, the fact that she almost doomed the empire by destroying the crystal heart. She doesn't remember it happening, due to it happening mere days after she was born, but she has heard stories. Many, many stories. She still couldn't believe auntie Rarity tried to catch her with a butterfly net. Neither or less, it still got a chuckle out of her. After much more pacing and getting her thoughts together, Flurry finally decided that it was that time of the week for her. To help her cope with the loss of a friend, Flurry had been writing letters to Luster, at least letters addressing her and bringing them to her grave. It was a little something Twilight suggested since writing to Celestia helped her when she was still grieving, maybe writing letters to the dead will make Flurry feel better. She didn't use those exact words, but Flurry got the idea. Taking out some ink, some parament, and realizing she ran out of quills, just plucked one of her feathers to use as a quill. With everything set, Flurry begins her writing. Dear Luster Dawn, Hi, it's been a little while. Sorry I didn't write last week. A lot has happened and I couldn't find time to write about it. SO I'll tell you all about it right now. As I told you in my last letter, the Friendship Summit was coming up. I was super excited to go then but right now, I'm glad our train got delayed... There was a crazy mare there named Jokes Kard, who basically started a whole uprising. Twilight isn't doing too well but the crazy kirin is imprisoned now. Under the crystal palace as a matter of fact. I went down there once and honestly... I'm scared of her... She's crazy. I wouldn't be totally crazy to think she was the ripper. I scared for all the prisoners we have down there. Worst yet, the statue of the three villains is gone. I accompanied Discord as he investigated the crime scene. He couldn't find any clues, which was bad, but on a brighter note: I GOT TO HANG OUT WITH DISCORD!!!! I swear, I never met someone like him before! He's such a charmer! He may be sarcastic at times but deep down I know he's an absolute softy! Ah! Here I go rambling about him again. I really should stop with that, his heart is for aunt Fluttershy, and I need to respect that. Anyway, I should be going now. I really hope you are having a great afterlife. I love you and miss you every day. Sincerly, Flurry Heart With the letter closed up in the envelope, Flurry uses magic to create an enchanted wind, sending the letter right to Chanterlot, right to Luster's grave. As much as she wishes she could deliver it herself, with all the uproar in Chanterlot, the site of alicorn royalty may get her hurt, and Flurry had made a promise. So, Flurry watched as the letter flew out of view, away from the empire and toward the castle of Chanterlot. That letter won't reach the grave, nor did any other letters stay on the grave. Flurry often chalked it up to the natural winds, but little does she knew, a changeling would come and rob the grave of the letters, bringing it back to his master, and this time was no different; it just so happened to fly right over the beginnings of construction. Their cover has not been blown yet, and the clock now sits at 11:59. Author's Note Hello. Bravery here. Now, this may come as a surpise that I will not be continuing this story. Why? It’s because I don’t feel passionate about Rosie Plague and her quest to take over Equestria. As fun as it was in my head, this isn’t what I want to be known for. Thank you for reading and I apologize for the sudden choice. Take care and have a wonderful day.
PrologueThud, crunch, thwack. Thud, crunch, thwack. Thud, crunch, thwack. And yet another hole was dug by the snow-white pony. "Finally," Rosie thought, "another grave complete. Just got to pour these ashes into it." Rosie, the Cutie Mark Ripper, took the bucket filled with bone ash and poured the white dust into the earthy pit, whispering, "Time of death: 9:28 P.M." then she took her shovel and covered the ash with dirt, letting the worms take care of the rest. After refilling the hole, Rosie sighed and looked at the other filled holes she did that evening: the older 7 and the newest 3. 11 graves in total. "11..." Rosie thought, "11 ponies dead to my hoof." It’s been 6 months after the Luster Dawn incident, and Rosie had been hard at work. She never did multiple preys at once and she was scared to, but oh how worth it was! Listening to the screams of terror and lost hope was strangely endearing, watching as the earth pony and pegasus saw their comrade die in front of them, the sheer terror of them was enough to make Rosie laugh like one of those super villains. But that was several hours ago, the cuts of meat within her hidden freezer, and the screams were but a distant memory now, the ghost of the ponies watching her as she worked. She felt alone, yet not alone. But she felt powerful. Rosie could feel the magic course through her veins, as the wings on her back had grown larger than the standard pegasus and her height grows ever so slightly from any Chanterlot pony she has seen. She was a true alicorn now through bloodshed, and she finally felt phase two could finally begin. No more planning, action must be taken. And she knew exactly who to recruit. Author's Note Here we go again!
